title: [Assessment and choice of the device for vascular access].
abstract: The accurate vascular monitoring by nurses both at the beginning and during infusion treatment, in addition to the selection of the best device for each patient, can increase patient satisfaction, reduce complications, preserve peripheral veins, reduce or eliminate time used to find unlikely vein access, reduce hospital stay length and reduce the costs associated with infusion treatment. Aims of study are to ascertain the presence of a procedure for choosing the most suitable venous device for each patient, to identify nurses' criteria to make a vascular assessment, and to describe when nurses make a vascular assessment. A descriptive study with convenience sample of 290 nurses. The data collection instrument is an anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaires administered, returned, and considered valid were 227. 14% of the sample states that within their ward there is a a procedure to evaluate the most suitable device, while 70% states the opposite and 16% of the sample states that "they do not know". The results show fairly clearly that in the wards considered there is no procedure currently in use in order to choose the most suitable device for each patient, that nurses do not have clear criteria to make a vascular assessment, that they carry out vascular assessment at different times of the infusion's process.
authors.affiliation: Dott. Mag. in Scienze Infermieristiche e Ostetriche, Tutor Corso di Laurea in Infermieristica Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, sede di Reggio Emilia. Correspondence: Stefano.Finotto@asmn.re.it.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finotto
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caroli
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabrini
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iosi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mecugni
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062666:Vascular Access Devices